A Whole New World: Part 2

Everyone seems to think we are brave (or crazy) for taking three kids on a 5 1/2 hour flight to Disneyworld...especially considering we live about 30 minutes away from Disneyland. It was a good trip and I would say it was worth the trouble and expense. But by the last day, we were all ready to go home. Seven straight days of Disney magic was exhausting, even for the girls.

And now, I see a HUGE difference in boys vs. girls. I am sure it has something to do with Sam's age too, but at the same time, the girls were never this hyperactive. The girls were able to sit quietly on the plane and work on coloring books, artsy activities, and stickers. They only got out of their seats once to go to the bathroom--both ways. Sam, on the other hand, could not stay still for five seconds, let alone five hours. We should have gotten the extra seat and strapped him in. He was also suffering from a head cold so there was a lot of crying and screaming on the descent into Orlando.

We used a credit card privilege to get into the VIP airport lounge for free. It was awesome. There was a kiddie room with computers, a TV and snacks. While I was getting the free coffee, muffins and fruit in the lounge area, I sneezed and Smokey Robinson blessed me!

We used all the complimentary shuttle services that Disneyworld provides, including the Magical Express airport shuttle. They are supposed to pick up your bags from baggage claim for you and deliver it to your room within a few hours. We didn't get our bags until the next morning. Luckily I was prepared for worst case scenario with our carry-on so it wasn't too much of a hassle. When we finally got our bags the next morning, it had these priority tags on them which was amusing.

The Finding Nemo show at Animal Kingdom was amazing. The costumes were done by the same designer as the Broadway Lion King show. We managed to get reserved seating so we didn't wait in line at all and were able to get the best seats in the house. We also utilized the fast pass system extensively so we never waited more than 20 minutes for any ride.

Our little monkeys...
Sam understands what a camera is now and will smile when I take his photo. Cutie patootie, huh?
After Magic Kingdom closed, we bought the kids a souvenir each and let them run around for an hour while we let the crowd die down. Sam is getting to the age where he can interact with them more. It's very sweet to see all three of them play together.

Chang and I celebrated our seventh year anniversary while there. What a romantic way to spend the day, huh? Love you babe. I can honestly say I love you more than ever.


Our resort was right on the water. The cool thing was we could take a 10 minute boat ride to Downtown Disney.

I have no idea where they learned to pose for pictures. Look at how they both cock their heads to the side!

Sam looks more and more like "da-da" everyday. He was also super clingy to Chang during the whole trip.

We treated the girls to a Bibbity-Bobbity Boutique trip. Hair, make-up, nails, tiara and "fairy dust" sprinkled all over for the cost of a king's ransom. Yes we are suckers but it was cute and the girls loved it. Plus, we held it over their heads the whole trip in order to extract good behavior.

The Beauty and the Beast show at Hollywood Studios was a lot of fun too. The amphitheater is a mini Hollywood Bowl.
In front of the famous "Spaceship Earth" Epcot icon.


By the end of the trip, everyone was tired. Yes, that is Elysha inside the Ergo carrier.


The weather was perfect the whole time we were there. All in all, a wonderful trip. But eight days of family vacation was enough for all of us. We were all ready to get back home and out of each other's hair.

The Artist Formerly Known as... (part deux)

Yesterday, I was organizing the living room and moving around the photo albums, and I came upon something Chang made for me. It was a scrapbook Chang made for our fourth anniversary with some of the memorabilia of our relationship--greeting cards, ticket stubs, photos. It was very sweet and must have taken a lot of effort. Additionally, he printed out the emails that we sent to each other even before our relationship started.

While organizing, I started reading some of the emails and couldn't help but be amused. It was interesting to see how careful we were with our words, trying to not expose or belie our nascent emotions. We are sooo beyond that point now. I know some people miss that "honeymoon" stage, but I don't. I enjoy where Chang and I are now. It's like our physical bodies--it's matured, it's older, there might be some unexpected aches and pains, and some fat that can be trimmed. But behind the faded glory of our bodies is wisdom, understanding, depth, and purity that has been refined by fire.

Anyhow, I completely forgot that I actually wrote a couple poems for Chang. I have to say I am impressed with myself. I don't think I will ever be able to write like that again. I'm fairly certain that the poetic part of my brain was anesthetized with child rearing, and I'm not so sure I can ever recover it again.

I thought I would share something that I wrote, so that it will be preserved in cyber eternity, for prosperity's sake.

Written around May 2001, at the very beginning of our relationship.

For so long now,
I looked into the iridescent pools of other's souls,
seeking to find my own translucent reflection.
I cried out to the hollow population
hoping to hear an echo of my own desperation
somewhere from a distance.

But only perhaps.

And then you arrived, love,
Lifting the heaviness of my emptiness,
Filling me with fullness that I bear
as a mother carries her slumbering child,
his cheek pressed peacefully into her flesh.

With one gesture, you motioned me into your nakedness.
I turned away in fear
for I have never known such radiance.
Passion, I thought, must be incendiary.
But I hold your fire (evocative embers)
with both hands
without whispers
and with all my life.

So Happy Together

Chang and I will have been married seven years this year, come April. Our marriage is definitely stronger today than it was when we first got married. He is my rock, my best friend, the love of my life, and really just perfect for me in so many ways. He calls me Monica (as in Geller from Friends) because I can be uptight and control freaky about things, you know, every now and then.

Chang, on the other hand, seems like Mr. Easy-going, Cool as a Cucumber, all around decent guy. And he is, except when he is not.

Case in point, painting our living room. Every time we have moved, I have been pregnant or became pregnant shortly afterward. So I have not been able to help paint until now, and therefore I am a mere novice while Chang has elevated himself to the ranks of expert. I was eager to get the room painted, because I have a schedule in my head and come hell or highwater, we are sticking to the schedule, peoples!

Me: Honey, I am going to start taping the room while Sam naps so we can get things moving.
Expert: Mmm, I don't know. Taping is a very important task. You have to do it right.
What I hear: Don't even bother. You'll just do a sloppy job and I'll have to do it all over again, because only I can do it perfectly.
What I do: Ignore him and just start taping because I want to stick to my schedule.

Me: Honey, maybe I should start priming while Sam is napping.
Expert: Mmm, I don't know. Priming is a very important task. I'll do it.
What I hear: You don't even know how to use the roller and I don't think that I trust you painting when I am not home.
What I do: Start priming because I want to stick to my schedule.

Me: Honey, maybe I can start the second coat if this first coat dries soon.
Expert: No offense Honey but the second coat is very important. I'll do it.
What I hear: This is the final stage, what people are going to see. If I'm going to have my name on this job, it has to be perfect, like me.
What I do: Go to McDonalds at 10pm and get us some goodies. Then sit on the couch and eat my fries and sundae while watching Numb3rs (I love how they use math to help solve crime. So geeky and hot!).
Expert: Why don't you do the corners while I am doing the second coat?
What I hear: Wahh, wahh, wonk
What I do: Ignore him and keep eating my fries because we are ahead of schedule and fries don't taste good when they've cooled down.

But he redeemed himself by getting me a two-pound box of See's for Valentine's Day. He's a keeper.

The Seven-Year Itch

Chang and I have been together for over seven years now. It was a whirlwind romance. Starting dating, fell in love, got engaged, got married in less than a year. I guess the saying is true, "when you know, you know."

Fast forward, seven years and three children later, life is still good between us. I read this article in some parenting magazine that talked about how some couples understood that their children came first and were willing to put their marriage on the backburner. I am sorry to say this, but I do not agree at all.

Obviously, having kids just sucks the life out of us. They demand so much attention and effort. But the great thing about children is that they are forgiving (or have awful short-term memory), they are affectionate, and they make it so clear to us everyday that we, as their parents, rock their worlds. In some sense, it is so easy to pour out every ounce of our beings to better their lives.

Adults, on the other hand, hold petty grudges. We forget to say "thanks" and "I love you" and "honey, you've had a long, hard day with the kids. Why don't you sit down, watch TV, and eat some ice cream while I do the dishes, clean up the kitchen, and fold the laundry?" While we, as wives, may have rocked our husbands' worlds when we first got together, now, they would rather watch football than listen to us talk about the millions of poopy diapers we changed (seriously? How is Tom Brady being out for the season more interesting than a greenish, brownish, redish poopy diaper?). And let's be honest, sometimes sleep is just so much more satisfying than making whoopie.

Well, for the most part, Chang and I are still having a good time. I think we're doing a good job still seeing each other as the love of our lives, not just the cook and the nanny, or the breadwinner and the handyman. Sometimes I might be caught reading Porn for New Moms or watching Kevin James pole dancing but what can I say, it turns me on.

Then

vs. Now

Coming Out of the Closet

For those of you who have known me for a long time, I am sure you have seen my slow metamorphosis from B.C. to A.D. (Before Chang and After Dating, Marriage and Children). Even I have been surprised at myself and the shift in my interests. But it isn't because I am changing for Chang. I realized that being married has freed me to become the girlie girl that was always hidden inside of me.

Looking back, I think it has to do with my cult church attendance when I was in college. During my three years at this church, they really emphasized not doing things to draw attention to yourself, especially to the opposite sex. Though I left the cult church, I continued to be unkempt--it's easy to do when you are cheap, lazy, and reclusive. But as I got older, I slowly exfoliated, er, shed my outer shell.

It started so innocuously. Girlfriends would invite me shopping and I would go. Just for the company I told myself. But then I found myself going to malls alone. I would walk past a gorgeous handbag and my eyes were naturally drawn to the supple leather and chiseled hardware. Embarrassed by my uncharacteristic behavior, I would run away. But the sound of my stiletto heels reverberating against the pavement was like a chant chastising me of my hypocrisy.

Now, I can no longer deny who I am. I am coming out of my closet--which is filled with flirty heels and sequined purses. I am lucky that I am married to a man who accepts me just as I am, though I am sure he misses the old me--I was a heck of a lot cheaper to have around. And my girls...well...I pretend that I don't know why they walk around the house wearing tiaras and tulle. But I admit it. It is because I do too.

My Backstreet Boys Lover

On one of our first dates...

I'm not sure how many people are going to be able to read this before I am forced to delete this post but it's been swirling around my head for the last few days. he he...

When my aunt was here on Tuesday, I had the wonderful opportunity to attack our scary front yard. Basically, aside from pruning the roses, I haven't done much to it except uprooting an enormous tree. Though it was a beautiful tree, the roots were getting under the foundation of the house. So since last week, I have been pulling out weeds whenever I get a chance.

I turned on my hand-me-down iPod (Chang got the iPod Touch last Christmas so he gave me his old one) which was completely configured by Chang. I must have chosen to play every song by artist alphabetically which I didn't mind initially until...

...without any warning, it started. And it did not stop until maybe five or six songs later, just one after another, those falsetto voices and valiant declarations of loving me 'til the end of time, even if I didn't have a dime, why o why wont'cha be mine, because baby baby, I think you're fine. It was the Backstreet Boys, the beloved boy band of 15 year old girls and my husband. Since my gloved hands were so dirty, I didn't forward the songs like I normally do. Here I was, forced to listen to their cliched rhymes and identical sounding songs.

But something strange happened...I actually started to listen to their songs. Okay, I still think they (the group, the songs, the whole shebang) are awful. But it made me appreciate my darling husband more. Every song seemed to be sung to some woman whom they love, despite their better judgment. It made me think about the person I was before Chang and I got together, and what a lucky gal I am that Chang didn't give up on me so easily.

We were not interested in each other when we first met. He thought I was too anti-social, and I thought he was materialistic and self-absorbed (though my perception was not based on any interactions but on a pair of shoes that he wore the first day we met). His perception of me was correct, however. I had so many issues that I still had to work out--mostly in the realm of emotional healing and being morbidly introspective--that I wasn't exactly the friendliest person. I finally worked things out personally and came out of my shell. Chang and I began to converse around that time. Ours wasn't one of those relationships that explode overnight. It was more like a slow simmer because I wasn't exactly the friendliest person (just to reiterate). While we both had issues we had to work through, he had way more hurdles he had to jump over in order to be with me. A lesser man would have walked away. But Chang loved me with the love that the BSB sing about--I don't care who you are, what you did, where you're from, as long as you love me. So to those four men who no longer have singing careers, I salute you.

Honey, I love you and I know you put up with so much daily. God really blessed me when He brought you into my life. Thanks for being you...perfect for me.

Inaugural Post

People have been asking for photos. Blogging technology has made it sleep deprivation proof. I haven't been good about journaling and I feel like I have forgotten so many things already about their baby years--so this will be good for prosperity. Besides, I am so in love with my baby...and the girls--they have been so amazingly cute and "thorn in my flesh" difficult!

Joey--she is so beautiful and smart. I look at her and I can't believe that she is already 4 years old. She's the biggest girlie girl ever. She loves the learn and be independent. She is so sweet and is a really good big sister to both Elysha and Sam.

Elysha--she is so cute! She's got such big eyes and she is so mischievous. If there is trouble lurking around, Elysha will find it and become its partner in crime. She is easy going 95% of the time--but boy, that 5%! She loves little Sam and wants to do the same thing her big sister.

Sam--he is my angel baby. He sleeps all the time, smiles and laughs when he is awake, and he is just so sweet. I am really loving this baby stage again. Three is REALLY hard and I complain all the time--but I wouldn't change anything.

Oh yeah...Chang and I are doing well too. =) He is a really wonderful husband, father, and best of all, takes care of the girls in the morning so I can sleep in with Sam.